ISLAMABAD, Aug 11: Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Mohammad Farooq told a PPP delegation on Saturday that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would complete the process of door-to-door voters’ enumeration in the first week of October, PPP leader Nazir Dhoki said.
The CEC meeting with the PPP delegation took place in the commission’s office on the directive of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
A bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice had, on a petition filed by the PPP, directed the ECP to ensure registration of every eligible voter in the electoral rolls.
The CEC said the Commission would require 20 more days for feeding voters’ new data into computers.
Other members of the delegation were: Senator Abdul Latif Khosa, Farooq Naik, Amir Fida Piracha, Prof B.A. Malik, Palwasha Behram, Kashif Rizvi, Sheikh Mansoor and Jalal Mahmood Shah. Attorney-General Malik Muhammad Qayyum was also present on the occasion.
The PPP leader quoted the CEC as saying that 90,000 enumerators had been employed to carry out the gigantic exercise.
The Chief Election Commissioner assured the members of the delegation that the ECP would follow the directive of the Supreme Court about voters’ enrolment.
The PPP delegation suggested that the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) staff should be taken along for the issuance of computerised national identity cards (CNICs).
It called for issuing CNICs free of charge, asserting that many people could not afford to pay Rs85 to get an identity card. The Chief Election Commissioner promised to look into the matter. Attorney-General Justice (retd) Malik Mohammad Qayyum said that he would recommend the government to waive fees of CNICs.
The PPP delegation was told that the condition of production of national identity card was being waived off and eligible voters would be able to cast votes on production of some other identity.
